This article is from Power Play, a twice-weekly newsletter rounding up the latest City Hall and local politics gossip. To sign up, visit The Standard’s newsletter page.
Mayor Daniel Lurie’s “Tussle in the Tenderloin” this month raised eyebrows and questions about his propensity for hopping out of his vehicle and mixing it up on the street. But another incident, in December, involving the mayor’s security detail and suped-up black Rivian went quietly under the radar.
That time, it wasn’t people on the sidewalk who came to blows with Team Lurie but a historic, green San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency streetcar.
Video (opens in new tab) from Dec. 11, obtained by Power Play, shows Lurie’s Rivian colliding with an F-Market & Wharves streetcar heading southbound on Market Street. The $134,000 electric vehicle (bought and donated to the city by Lurie himself) stops abruptly at the intersection of Octavia Boulevard while turning on its police lights, attempting to make a U-turn at a prohibited left-turn intersection. The streetcar does not have time to stop and collides with the Rivian, pushing it a couple of feet to the left of the road.
Video of Muni streetcar striking Mayor Daniel Lurie’s Rivian in December 2025. | Source: SFMTA
The train operator reported that someone onboard was injured, according to SFMTA records; however, video shot from inside the streetcar doesn’t appear to show anyone with a serious injury. A records request to the city attorney’s office returned no accident-related injury claims against the city in connection with the event.
However, what appeared to be a minor crash turned out to be a surprisingly expensive repair for the streetcar. (Welcome to San Francisco.) For parts, paint, labor, and lost revenue to the SFMTA, the bill came to a whopping $21,438. That particular streetcar was built in 1946 in San Diego (opens in new tab), and the model is in use in few places around the world, meaning SFMTA machinists often have to build parts from scratch (opens in new tab).
Lurie’s office did not respond to a request for comment about whether he was in the vehicle at the time of the crash. The video doesn’t show him exiting the Rivian after the incident; instead, an unidentified staffer holding what appears to be a blazer jumps out and crosses the street.
San Francisco Police Department policy states (opens in new tab) that lights and sirens should be used “only when an emergency response appears reasonably necessary to prevent serious injury to persons, whether or not a criminal offense is involved.”
In an unrelated incident, David Lazar, a former assistant SFPD chief, in an apparent violation of policy, used the lights on his unmarked police car to get around traffic during 2025’s NBA All-Star Weekend, resulting in a crash (opens in new tab).
So what was the Rivian, driven by SFPD officer Noel Castro, doing with its lights on? SFPD spokesperson Mason Lee said only that it was “for a law enforcement purpose.” He added, “The U-Turn was necessary to prevent or reduce the risk of injury to persons at the scene.” Lee declined to provide additional details but said that an investigation had found that the streetcar operator was at fault for following the Rivian too closely.
A streetcar operator who spoke anonymously with Power Play said they usually keep one train’s length (about 60 feet) away from vehicles, and braking can depend on a host of factors, including street conditions and weather. — G.G. and J.F.R.
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Marie Hurabiell sent a demand letter to KQED. | Camille Cohen/The Standard
WHERE’S MY INVITE: After the embarrassing cancellation (opens in new tab) of a gubernatorial debate by the University of Southern California (this writer’s alma mater) because of the exclusion of some candidates, a San Francisco congressional candidate is pressuring a media organization over her exclusion from a debate stage.
Political activist and former Trump appointee Marie Hurabiell has hired well-traveled election attorney Jim Sutton, who sent a letter (opens in new tab) to KQED regarding her omission from an upcoming debate.
In the letter, Sutton argues that KQED could be at risk of violating the law, noting that nonprofits must exercise caution when excluding candidates and ensure their selection criteria are neutral.
“Choosing which candidates may participate in a debate when other candidates may still decide to run … is by definition arbitrary and unreasonable,” Sutton wrote.
KQED had previously responded to Sutton that it set a Feb. 23 deadline for participants’ qualification — a cutoff that came two days before Hurabiell announced her candidacy — to allow sufficient time for production. The station claimed that adjusting the deadline for a specific candidate would be inequitable. Another requirement is that candidates must either raise $100,000 or receive contributions from 500 donors in their most recent filing, which was due at the end of 2025. Peter Cavagnaro, KQED’s communications director, confirmed Wednesday that the decision to exclude Hurabiell remains unchanged and that the organization is committed to a fair, transparent, and substantive event.
Hurabiell said the campaign is filing a formal complaint to the Federal Election Commission.
The debate is scheduled (opens in new tab) for Tuesday evening and will feature the other candidates seeking to succeed Rep. Nancy Pelosi: Supervisor Connie Chan, former congressional staffer and software engineer Saikat Chakrabarti, and state Sen. Scott Wiener. — H.L.
ON HER OWN: Speaking of Hurabiell, the self-described “commonsense” candidate has done something nonsensical for an aspiring San Francisco politician: She turned down the chance to proclaim the rights of transgender people.
A San Francisco Democratic Party proposal (opens in new tab) to reaffirm the city as a sanctuary for transgender people, authored by local Dems Emma Hare, Peter Gallotta, and Eric Kingsbury, was dutifully endorsed by Wiener, Chakrabarti, and Chan.
But not Hurabiell, who has been vocal on X about her anti-trans stance and told Power Play she is neutral on the measure.
“I absolutely support defending the rights, safety, and dignity of all San Franciscans. That being said, it’s well known I object to biological males accessing women’s sports or spaces based on self-identification,” she said.
For years, Hurabiell has essentially denied the existence of transgender people in tweets we won’t link to here. But such a stance puts her out of step with pretty much every other political player in town, including her close ally Lurie, whose campaign promised to support (opens in new tab) trans youth.
Kingsbury noted that the candidate was out of step with local Dems.
“There’s a party that agrees with her,” he quipped. “It’s not the Democratic one.”
The SF Democratic Party will vote on the measure at Wednesday’s regular meeting. It’ll likely sail through.
Transgender Day of Visibility is March 31. — J.F.R.
SUNSET BETRAYAL: The San Francisco YIMBY party endorsed Supervisor Alan Wong for his June reelection bid after he supported a major upzoning effort last year. Now the group feels betrayed.
Wong has initiated a petition (opens in new tab) calling for the cleanup of a toxic plume beneath the 2500 block of Irving Street, an effort that just happens to also target a controversial affordable housing project. Wong and nearby residents say (opens in new tab) toxic dry-cleaning chemicals — particularly perchloroethylene, or PCE — have been detected in the subsurface soil and in homes. But housing advocates see other dirty motives at work.
In a scathing letter (opens in new tab), YIMBY blasted Wong’s move as an inflammatory, NIMBY-driven petition, arguing that the alleged public health risks are based on claims that were thoroughly evaluated and disproved during the permitting process. The group also criticized Wong’s decision to oppose a senior affordable housing project at 1234 Great Highway.
“We expect better from a city supervisor than peddling NIMBY conspiracy theories and opposing affordable housing projects in his district,” the letter said.
It is a rare move for YIMBY to publicly rebuke one of its endorsed candidates, and the group could choose to withdraw its endorsement.
Wong said in a statement that the project has already been built and that it is now more about addressing community concerns.
“When there is documented evidence of chemical contamination in the surrounding neighborhood, it is understandable that neighbors want more than a narrow, site-only response,” Wong said. — H.L.